The reduction of industrial contaminant emissions continues to be important in decreasing anthropogenic environmental impact. Daunting challenges are being encountered as the bar continues to rise with respect to both the amount and nature of contaminants that are considered acceptable. This is particularly evident with respect to Green House Gas (GHG) emission reductions. While large CO2 emissions are a present concern with respect to the green house effect, unintended emissions of methane would also be important given that methane produces a greater green house effect. The contribution of methane emissions to the overall anthropogenic environmental impact is not presently well understood, however there are indications that it may be significant.
In the field of air quality monitoring, human sensory perception is relied upon to detect chemical or particulate plumes. Visible plumes may also include condensation plumes, wherein an emitted contaminant being otherwise invisible, becomes visible under atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions causing the contaminant to condensate or crystallize. If a plume has distinctive visual characteristics, such as a distinctive color or opaqueness, the plume can be tracked visually back to its source. However, human visual sensory perception cannot be relied upon in low lighting conditions.
Not all emissions have discernable visual characteristics. Whether an emission does not have discernable visual characteristics under typical environmental conditions, whether an emission has discernable visual characteristics however it is of such low concentration that human sensory perception is incapable of perceiving the difference between the plume and the ambient air, or whether smoggy environmental conditions render the plume indistinguishable therefrom; even extremely low concentrations of certain airborne contaminants can have a deleterious impact on the environment and/or affect living entities large and small.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improvements in the art.